Fox News Cancels Salt Lake Debate • Trump Unavailable

Fox News has cancelled a Republican debate scheduled for March 21st in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Trump confirmed his unavailability live on-air this morning to the visibly disappointed hosts of Fox & Friends.

The GOP front runner explained that he would be unavailable due to a prior commitment to speak at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s policy conference being held in Washington D.C. March 20th-22nd. Trump’s speech at AIPAC is also scheduled on March 21st.

Following the revelation that Trump would not attend, John Kasich’s campaign released a statement saying that he would not participate in the debate without Trump, adding "If he changes his mind, we will be there."

With two of the three remaining Republican candidates no longer participating, Fox News was forced to cancel the event.

Here is the full statement from Fox News executive vice president Michael Clemente:

On Feb. 20, the Republican National Committee announced that a GOP presidential primary debate would be held on March 21 in Salt Lake City. They offered that debate to Fox News Channel to host, provided there were enough candidates actively campaigning. This morning, Donald Trump announced he would not be participating in the debate. Shortly afterward, John Kasich’s campaign announced that without Trump at the debate, Kasich would not participate. Ted Cruz has expressed a willingness to debate Trump or Kasich — or both. But obviously, there needs to be more than one participant. So the Salt Lake City debate is cancelled.